


Do you believe in fate ?

by BrowsoftheTaiga



Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon, Childhood Memories, First Crush, First Love, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Pining
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-03-04
Updated: 2017-03-04
Packaged: 2018-09-28 07:20:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,705
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10079270
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BrowsoftheTaiga/pseuds/BrowsoftheTaiga
Summary: People come into your life for a reason, a season, or a lifetime -- or all of the above, and sometimes even more than just that.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Here I am. Starting a new fic like I don't already have another ongoing one that I've been supposed to finish since 2014. But life is too short. And I gotta write stuff on the side to improve my writing anyway so YEAH.

Daiki was standing ankle-deep in the cold water, the smell of the river flooding his nostrils, the familiar sound of cicadas singing filling his ears while the rays of the sun were gently warming his skin.  
  
He shut his eyes close with a frown and let out a gasp as he felt the slender hands of a taller woman beginning to apply sunscreen to his face.  
  
"Mom-" he groaned while the woman massaged the white lotion onto his his face until it was completely absorbed into his dark skin, "-I can do it myself !" he exclaimed, his high-pitched and frustrated voice making the woman let out an amused chuckle, "I'm not a kid anymore !" he added, finally opening his big, blue eyes again as her hands moved away from his face. He looked up at his mother and she looked obviously unimpressed.  
  
"You're _eight_." she corrected.  
  
"I'm gonna be nine in three months !" Daiki exclaimed, his frown deepening. His mother rolled her eyes with a smile and went back to the shore to pick up Daiki's things.  
  
Then, she stepped into the water again and placed a white hat on his head.  
  
Daiki used his hands to fix his hat while his mother crouched down in front of him, holding his bug-catching net and his favorite bug-carrier - it was the one he could clip to his belt.  
  
She securely clipped the transparent box to his belt, obviously amused as she watched Daiki growing even more frustrated.  
  
She handed him his bug-catching net with a giggle, "I'll let you do it yourself next time, okay ? So stop pouting." she said, flicking her finger at Daiki's lower lip, which was actually sticking out. His eyebrows raised in surprise - he hadn't even realized he was pouting. Satsuki's habit must have rubbed off on him.  
  
The taller woman patted his head as she straightened back up, "Remember, Dai-chan. Be back at seven o' clock. And don't wander too far."  
  
"Okay." he nodded as he looked up at her and fixed his hat again.  
  
He hissed as he began walking into the cold water to reach the other side of the river, where the forest was. This part of the river wasn't deep, so the water only reached up to below his knees, just a few inches below the edge of his khaki shorts.  
  
He stepped onto the shore on the other side of the river and ignored the funny sound of his shoes squeaking because of the water that had gotten inside of them.  
  
"Be careful !", he heard his mother say from the other side of the river, and he waved at her and at his father before running into the forest and disappearing into the wilderness.

* * *

  
  
With the handle of his bug-catching net between his teeth, Daiki swung his leg over a big, robust tree branch, straddling it rather easily.  
  
He was around three meters off the ground, and he would definitely get yelled at if his mother could see him, but his mother wasn't there, so it was fine. Besides, the best bugs always hid at the most unattainable places.  
  
He looked up at the few cicadas that were right above him and quietly watched them for a while. They had gotten silent since he had gotten near them, but he could still hear the sound of cicadas singing in the other trees.  
  
He moved slowly as he took his net in his hand and stared at the cicadas with a concentrated frown. Then, he swung his net with a sharp and accurate movement, and easily trapped three cicadas into his net.  
  
He tossed them into his bug-carrier along with the four beetles he had found earlier and placed the handle of his net between his teeth again. Then, he cautiously unstraddled the branch and used his hands to hang from it before finally letting go.  
  
He fell on his feet and immediately dropped to his knees - doing this was a good way to make sure he wouldn't hurt his ankles.  
  
While he was on his knees, he used his hands to move a few fallen leaves and rocks out of the way, and spent a minute or two looking for bugs crawling between the dirt and the grass, but he didn't find any. He stood back up, rubbed the dirt off his hands and began walking again, humming a song that Satsuki had sung earlier that day - he always had songs stuck in his head because of her.  
  
He stopped humming when he noticed the slightly big rock that was a few steps away from him and a grin crept across his face as he stepped towards it.  
  
He flipped the rock over, his grin widening when he found a big centipede wiggling around in the dirt. He took it with his free hand and tossed it inside of his bug-carrier, and then glanced at his watch. It was already past six.  
  
He caught a few crawling bugs and a few more beetles and then let his feet carry him to the place where he always went at the end of the afternoon.  
  
He climbed up the sharp slope that was in front of him, clinging to the roots and the tree-trunks that were in the way to make sure he wouldn't slip on the slightly wet grass and fall onto the soil.  
  
A sigh escaped his lips when he finally reached the top of the slope. He rubbed the dirt off his hands again and walked into the dense bushes that were in front of him, using his forearms to push all the small branches in front of him out of the way. He didn't care that they were scratching his bare arms and his shins, because what was on the other side was worth it.  
  
He had found that hidden spot during the previous summer while he was exploring this part of the mountain for the first time. Daiki had walked through all those bushes to follow a squirrel and, once he had stepped out of the bushes, what he had found had absolutely _terrified_ him at first. The spot looked beautiful, the grass looked clean and green and there were no trees there, it was surrounded by bushes and all of Tokyo could be seen from there, and this was what had been scaring him - it was the edge of a cliff. Since it was so high up in the mountain, he used to be convinced that the cliff was at least a thousand meters high and that he was going to fall and die if he moved too close to the edge. He had even been scared when he stood _far_ from the edge, because he had thought the ground would collapse under him, like it always did in the cartoons he watched on TV, and that he was going to fall anyway. It was only after he had taken a deep breath that Daiki had managed to muster the courage he had needed to get closer to the edge, and he had felt relieved when he had realized that there was a mountain path just a few meters below, and that the cliff wasn't that high - it was just a little higher than the branches he always straddled to catch cicadas.  
  
After that and since Daiki didn't have to worry about dying anymore, it had become his favorite spot in the mountain and his secret hideout - no one knew about it, not even Satsuki, but she didn't even really hang out in the mountains to begin with.  
  
That day, however, as he walked through the bushes and spotted a kid's head through all the leaves and the branches, Daiki realized that his secret hideout wasn't as _secret_ as he had thought.  
  
He stepped out of the bushes and ignored the breath-taking view of Tokyo and the blue, beautiful sky as all of his attention was on the kid who was sitting on the grass, his back facing him.  
  
The other kid had short, messy red hair and was wearing a green t-shirt and black shorts. Daiki noticed that the kid's sun-kissed skin was just as scratched up as his was, and that he was absently ripping out grass while he stared at the horizon.  
  
The redheaded boy only noticed Daiki when he was standing just two steps away from him. He turned his head towards him, big red eyes looking at him and squinting under the sun while really weird, split eyebrows were pulling together into a frown. He looked like he was around Daiki's age.

Daiki had never seen that boy before that day, he was... _almost_ sure of it - he probably would have remembered the strange eyebrows - and yet, he couldn't shake off the strange feeling that he had seen him before.  
  
"What are you doing here ?" Daiki asked curiously as he stood next to him and looked down at him.  
  
"Just looking at the view." the redhead shrugged and turned his head towards the horizon again.  
  
The sound of cicadas was filing the air as the two boys stayed silent.  
  
Daiki stared at the scenery for a while before looking at the redhead again, "What's your name ?"  
  
The redhead looked up at him one more time, scowling and eyes narrowing under the sun. "Kagami Taiga." he answered.  
  
Daiki nodded. "I'm Aomine Daiki."  
  
Kagami hummed.  
  
"Is it the first time you come here ?"  
  
The redheaded boy shook his head, "No." he looked at the scenery again, "This is my secret hideout. I've been here a lot."  
  
"What ?" Daiki raised an eyebrow, "Since when ?"  
  
Kagami looked at him again, "Uh... Last week ?" he frowned, "I think ? Maybe the week before."  
  
Daiki pointed at himself, "Well it's been my secret spot since last summer." he said with a small frown.  
  
"Oh. Okay." The redhead nodded with a raised brow, seemingly not understanding that he wasn't welcomed there - or maybe he understood but he just didn't care, it was hard to tell. He silently stared at Daiki and eventually looked away to look at the scenery again, "Well, I like it here so I'll stay."  
  
"You can't just stay, what the heck ?!" Daiki exclaimed and went to stand right in front of him to block his view.  
  
Kagami looked up at him, his eyes not squinting this time because he wasn't facing the sun anymore, but he was still scowling, "Why not ?"  
  
"Cause it was my secret hideout first ! And I like to be here alone."  
  
Kagami's frown deepened, "There's enough space for both of us !" he answered in annoyance, "Plus, you're probably lying and saying it was yours first just so you can have the hideout for yourself."  
  
"I'm not lying !"  
  
"Well last time I checked, your name wasn't written anywhere." Kagami shrugged, "So it isn't _your_ spot."  
  
"It is !" Daiki snapped, and the redhead looked at him with a frown, "I wrote my name on a tree over there." he pointed his finger towards his right, "And I wrote it _last summer_ !"  
  
Kagami looked at him suspiciously for a while but eventually stood up, and Daiki sighed and started leading the way to the tree he had mentioned while the redhead followed him through the bushes.  
  
Daiki easily found the tree among all the other bigger trees in the forest. He pointed at the trunk, and the redhead's eyebrows pulled together into a frown at the sight of Daiki's name carved into the wood.  
  
"See ?" Daiki said, "This is _my_ hideout !"  
  
The redhead looked frustrated; he crossed his arms, "Well I don't wanna leave."  
  
Daiki was getting really annoyed.  
  
He pointed at the redhead and finally roared, "Listen you- _A-AH !_ " Daiki stuttered out a cry, his breath catching in his throat and a rush of panic shooting through him when he noticed the black and yellow bug that was resting on his thumb. He froze, too scared to move, because he had gotten stung the last time he had moved when a bee was on him, and he had been terrified of them ever since.  
  
Kagami looked confused because of the sudden terror on Daiki's face and how glassy his eyes had become, "What's wrong ?" he asked and followed Daiki's gaze, his eyebrows shooting up when he noticed the bee.  
  
The redhead glanced at Daiki's face, at the bee, and then at Daiki's face again.

"Don't move." he said and went to rip a leaf off a small plant that was next to him.  
  
Daiki didn't even really hear him, he was too busy leaning his body back as far as he could from his own hand. He really just wanted to slap the bee away from his hand but he was too scared the bee would chase him and sting him.  
  
Kagami appeared in front of him again. He grabbed Daiki's forearm with his free hand, and Daiki felt a strange bolt of electricity coursing throughout his body from the tip of the boy's fingers, and the hair stand up on the back of his neck. Kagami slowly placed the leaf against the back of Daiki's hand, gently sliding it towards the menacing insect and waiting for it to walk onto the leaf; or to just fly away. It seemed the bee had decided to pick the former option as it slowly went to settle onto the leaf. Once the bee was comfortable and stopped moving, Kagami let go of Daiki's forearm and slowly walked away while cautiously holding the leaf in his hands.  
  
Daiki could finally let out the breath he hadn't even realized he was holding.  
  
"They only sting if they think you wanna hurt them." Kagami said as he came back and looked at him.  
  
"I know that." Daiki retorted with a frown. He was so embarrassed and angry that the boy he had been arguing with had found out he was scared of bees. He walked past him and angrily headed back to the hideout.

Kagami followed him through the dense shrubs without a word, and only spoke up once they were both out of the bushes, "If you go bug-hunting then aren't you supposed to like bugs ?" the redhead asked as he followed him, "How come you're so scared of bees you almost start crying when you see one ?"  
  
Daiki shot him a glare as he sat down onto the grass, but Kagami didn't look like he was trying to rile him up - he was looking at him like he was genuinely asking and waiting for an answer. It seemed he was just really blunt.  
  
"I wasn't gonna cry and I'm not scared of them either !" Daiki fumed, still glaring at the redhead who was sitting down next to him, "I just don't like them."  
  
Kagami nodded without a word, and Daiki decided to just enjoy the scenery for a while and to ignore the other boy.  
  
The frown was slowly disappearing from his face as he watched a few birds that were flying in the sky of Tokyo, and a plane that was leaving a white trail behind it. He wonder what it felt like to fly. He had never even been on a plane before.  
  
His mind started wandering for a while, and he didn't know how long he had been staring at the view, but Kagami had been silent the whole time, and Daiki eventually glanced at him out of curiosity.  
  
The redhead was staring at his bug-carrier and watching the bugs that were moving inside of it. Daiki noticed that he looked curious and a little disgusted - and he noticed the few freckles on his face and that his eyelashes were pretty long.  
  
"Did you ever go bug-hunting ?" he asked.  
  
Kagami's eyes jerked up to his face and he shook his head, "I usually don't go to the mountains much." he shrugged, "Me and my parents prefer the beach, so I've never catched bugs before."  
  
"Caught." Daiki corrected.  
  
Kagami blinked, "What ?"  
  
"It's ' _caught_ ', not ' _catched_ '."  
  
Kagami's eyebrows raised up, "Oh, yeah." he nodded, "My mom keeps telling me that but I always forget about it."  
  
Daiki laughed, because he remembered that his mom used to repeat it to him all the time, too.  
  
He took his bug-carrier in his hands, and Kagami's red eyes followed the movement while Daiki opened the small box and pulled out the big centipede he had found earlier, "Wanna touch it ?"  
  
Kagami blinked, his eyebrows raising in surprise. He hesitantly reached out to poke the insect with his finger and Daiki laughed at the face he made. He used his free hand to grab Taiga's wrist and placed the boy's hand flat on the grass before he put the centipede on his hand, noticing the boy's fingers clenching and then relaxing.  
  
Daiki looked up at his face and his lips turned up as Kagami scrunched up his nose in disgust.  
  
"Bugs are gross." the redhead said with a short, slightly uncomfortable chuckle as he watched the centipede slowly moving up his wrist.  
  
"I think they're cool." Daiki answered with a small smile. He took the centipede back in his hand before it could walk up Kagami's forearm and looked at him again. "You wanna try to catch some bugs ?"  
  
Kagami's weird eyebrows shot up, "Uh, yeah." he nodded.

* * *

  
  
Kagami wasn't good at catching bugs, but it made sense since he had never done it before.  
  
He had tried to catch a grass hopper and yelled when the insect jumped on him, so, after laughing for a while, Daiki had decided to make him start by catching rhinoceros beetles, since they were pretty slow. Daiki caught the faster bugs easily, a lot of them even coming towards him like he was attracting them, and although Kagami had called every single bug _gross_ , he always accepted when Daiki asked him if he wanted to touch them.  
  
"I think the bugs hate me." Kagami said shortly after being attacked by yet another fly.  
  
Daiki laughed, "That's 'cause you keep calling them gross." he answered, noticing that Kagami was staring at his hat.  
  
Before he could ask him what he was looking at, the redhead opened his mouth to speak. "Don't move." he said quietly and slowly reached out to the brim of his hat, "There's a butterfly on your hat."  
  
Daiki's eyebrows raised up. He stood still while the other boy cautiously took his hat off and slowly lowered it in front of him. Both boys looked down at the beautiful insect that was comfortably resting on the top of the white hat, slowly moving its orange and black wings.  
  
A smile appeared on Kagami's face as he glanced at him, "The bugs love you as much as they hate me." he said with a snicker and Daiki laughed. It was true that insects and even birds and squirrels always seemed to like him, and he liked all of the animals and all of the bugs too - as long as they weren't bees.  
  
"Try to make it walk on your hand." Daiki suggested, and Kagami looked at him with his eyebrows raised and nodded. He looked down at the butterfly and slowly inched his hand closer with a concentrated frown on his face. The butterfly didn't seem scared at all because it still wasn't moving.  
  
"Woah !" the redhead exclaimed while the butterfly began to walk onto his hand and up his finger. He slowly raised his hand in the air and the two boys looked up and watched the butterfly slowly inching all the way to the tip of Kagami's finger. It stood there for a while and eventually gracefully flew away.  
  
The two boys watched in awe until the butterfly vanished above the trees.  
  
They looked at each other and giggled.  
  
Kagami's nose scrunched up in disgust while he touched his finger, "It felt so weird." he laughed, "Even butterflies are gross."  
  
"No way." Daiki let out a small laugh, "I think they're really pretty." he said with a smile and Kagami blinked, staring at him and seemingly surprised by what Daiki had said. Daiki didn't think what he had said was weird but, for some reason, he still coughed awkwardly and glanced at his watch in agitation.  
  
And noticed that it was already 7:15.  
  
"Oh crap !" he said, his eyes opening wide.  
  
"What ?" Taiga frowned.  
  
"I have to go. It's already past seven !"  
  
The redhead glanced at his watch, "Oh no..." he groaned and ran a hand down his face, "I had to be back at 6:45... My mom's gonna yell at me forever."  
  
Daiki snickered because Kagami was definitely in trouble, and the redhead slapped his shoulder with a frown - he was pretty strong, Daiki noted.  
  
"Don't laugh when you're gonna be yelled at too, you idiot." Kagami said, rolling his eyes, and Daiki laughed even more. Kagami groaned again and handed him his hat, and while Daiki placed it back on his head with a little giggle, he noticed that Kagami opened his mouth and closed it, like he was hesitating to say something.  
  
Daiki looked at him until he finally said what he had in mind.  
  
"Are you coming here again ?" he asked hesitantly, scratching the back of his neck.  
  
"Yeah." Daiki nodded while he fixed his hat, "I come here on Fridays and Saturdays."  
  
Kagami nodded, grinning, "I'll tell my parents to bring me here again next Friday."  
  
Daiki grinned back and nodded while the redhead waved at him and walked away, rushing because he was already so late, and eventually the other boy disappeared between the trees.

* * *

  
  
They met at the secret hideout every Friday and Saturday that followed, during June and July, and after summer break had started in mid-July, they had also started meeting on Wednesdays - Daiki's mom and dad didn't really mind going to the mountain so often since they liked it there anyway and none of them worked during summer.  
  
Taiga was _really_ cool.  
  
Even though he didn't particularly like bugs, he had never slapped them away like Satsuki always did. He was fun and nice and he never cried when he tripped over roots. He was pretty strong. Daiki loved to play fighting and wrestling with him because he never knew who'd win, but his favorite thing was the days when they would both bring their water guns and play in the wilderness, because Taiga ran almost as fast as he did.  
  
There were also days when they didn't really feel like playing, and it was fine. They would just lay down and watch the clouds. Taiga would tell him about his day and Daiki would tell him about his; which often consisted in basketball, because that was pretty much all Daiki did.  
  
Although Taiga didn't really know much about basketball, he always listened to what he had to say and he always looked genuinely interested - it was nice.  
  
Taiga was such a great friend Daiki had even decided to let him carve his name onto the tree near the hideout and, as it could be read on the tree-trunk, the secret hideout belonged to ' _Daiki and Taiga_ ' and no one else.

* * *

  
  
"You sound like you like basketball a lot." the redhead had once pointed out during a cloudy day at the end of July, right after Daiki had told him that he had played against adults at the court right near his house. He was laying on his stomach and looking at Daiki with a glint of fascination in his eyes.  
  
A huge grin crossed Daiki's face as he looked away from the clouds to look at the boy that was laying next to him, "I _love_ basketball."  
  
Taiga hummed, still watching him - Taiga had the habit of watching Daiki's face _a lot_ , and even though his eyes were really intense sometimes, it had never made Daiki uncomfortable.  
  
"You love it more than catching bugs ?"  
  
"'Course." Daiki answered like that was a stupid question, "Basketball is like... a million times more fun !" he said with a grin and looked up at the sky again.  
  
Taiga stared at him thoughtfully for a while, and eventually sighed, "I wish there was something I loved, too."  
  
"Isn't there anything you're good at ?", Daiki asked, rolling onto his side to look at him.  
  
The other boy shrugged, "Not really. I'm just okay at a lot of things."  
  
Daiki hummed quietly, "You've never played basketball, right ?"  
  
Taiga shook his head, "Just at school during PE." he shrugged, "I guess I'm okay at it but not really good either."  
  
Daiki's eyebrows shot up to his hairline as an idea crossed his mind, "Hey, we could meet at the court someday ! I'll teach you how to play !"  
  
Taiga's eyebrows raised up. A huge, enthusiastic grin crept across his face, mirroring Daiki's excited smile, "Yeah !" he nodded vigorously, "I'll ask my mom and my dad later and I'll tell you what they said next time !"  
  
Daiki nodded, grinning in excitement just imagining playing basketball with Taiga.  
  
They spent the rest of the afternoon talking about everything and anything, and Daiki couldn't wait for the next time they would meet.

* * *

  
  
But Taiga didn't come back after that day.  
  
And while Daiki used to love being there alone and having the hideout for himself, it felt really weird, like something was missing. And even when he _tried_ , he couldn't really have fun alone anymore.  
  
For the whole month of August, each Wednesday, Friday and Sunday, Daiki would run straight to their hideout without even sparing a glance for the bugs. He always walked through all the bushes, scratching his arms and legs against the small branches and the leaves while hoping the redheaded boy would be sitting on the grass on the other side.  
  
But he was never there, and the disappointment and the anxiousness Daiki felt in his chest grew bigger and bigger each time Taiga was nowhere to be seen.  
  
Daiki had the bad habit of imagining the worst scenarios and feeling really anxious when he didn't hear of his friends or family for too long. When his parents took too much time to come home or when Satsuki was out of town with her family for too long, Daiki always imagined that an accident had happened, and sometimes even that they were dead.  
  
And now he was feeling more anxious than he ever had before, because it was the first time someone had disappeared like this for so long.  
  
He really, _really_ hoped Taiga was okay.

* * *

 

  
Summer break had ended at the end of August, right before Daiki's birthday. He usually stopped going to the mountain when school started again, but he had managed to convince his mother to keep driving him there on Fridays after school and during Saturdays' afternoons. Daiki's mom always gave in because she didn't work and because she liked to relax under the sun, but Daiki knew she was going to stop giving in as soon as the weather would get colder. He hoped he would see Taiga again before that.  
  
It was the second Saturday in September when Daiki spotted the other boy's head through the shrubs.  
  
"Taiga ?" Daiki asked, eyes wide open. He ran through the bushes and ignored all the cuts that came with it and that were definitely going to sting after a few hours.  
  
Taiga was sitting there, surprise on his face as Daiki ran towards him. He smiled, and Daiki didn't know how to explain it, but it was different from Taiga's usual big, dazzling smiles.  
  
"Hey." he said, his voice small.  
  
"Don't 'hey' me !" Daiki barked as he sat next to him, "Where have you been all that time ?!"  
  
Taiga scratched the back of his head. He looked down and shrugged, and Daiki followed the movement of his shoulders and noticed that Taiga's posture was terrible - his usually straight shoulders were extremely hunched, like there was an invisible weight on them.  
  
"Some stuff came up and I didn't really have the time to come here." he finally said, and even the way he spoke felt different, his voice was _way_ too quiet, it was weird coming from him.  
  
Daiki opened his mouth to ask what that 'stuff' was, but for some reason, something deep inside of him was telling him that he shouldn't ask, so he stayed silent instead.  
  
Taiga glanced at him and gave him a little smile, "I didn't think you'd keep coming here. The weather's getting colder."  
  
Daiki shrugged, "Well, my mom wanted to come here so I decided to come with her."  
  
He cringed internally at how obvious his lie was, but even such a cringy lie was better than telling him he had begged his mom all day because he wanted to go to the mountain just to see Taiga if he hypothetically was there.  
  
Taiga nodded, seemingly oblivious to Daiki's lie. Or maybe he had figured he was lying but just didn't point it out, who knows.

* * *

  
  
After that, Daiki had decided to lay down on his back, and Taiga had done the same.  
  
They silently watched the clouds for at least ten minutes, and while Daiki was usually comfortable when the both of them didn't talk, this time he felt like he needed to say something and start a conversation.  
  
So he asked Taiga about his day, and the redhead didn't really have anything interesting to say. He just quietly told him that he had stayed home all day and slept. Then, it was Taiga's turn to ask him about his day.  
  
Daiki told him about the fight he had had with Satsuki because she never wanted to share her banana milk with him, and he was relieved when Taiga laughed, although his laugh wasn't as loud and happy as it usually sounded. Then, as always, Daiki began to talk about basketball, and he suddenly sat up as he remembered something.  
  
"Oh right !" he exclaimed, "We're still supposed to play basketball !" he said and looked down at Taiga, "Did you ask your parents ?"  
  
Taiga bit his lower lip as he sat up, "I didn't." he answered quietly, shaking his head, and Daiki noted that he was looking down at the grass the whole time, "My dad has been pretty busy and I forgot to ask him."  
  
"What about your mom ?" Daiki asked curiously, and he noticed the slight frown that formed between Taiga's eyebrows.  
  
"Did you catch any bug today ?" Taiga asked, staring down at Daiki's bug-carrier and not answering his question.  
  
"Ah, uh," Daiki was a little thrown off guard by the sudden change of topic. He looked down at his bug-carrier and shrugged, "Well... There aren't bugs anymore since it's getting colder." he said, showing him the empty box.  
  
That was also an obvious lie. _Of course_ there were still bugs, the weather was still warm. But he didn't want to tell him that ever since the beginning of August, he had developed the habit of going straight to their hideout to know whether Taiga was there.  
  
Taiga finally looked at his face, and Daiki was feeling a little better as he saw the mischievous look in his eyes, even though he _knew_ what those eyes meant - Taiga had seen through his lie, "You really must have missed me." he said with a grin, and it looked more familiar this time - genuinely happy. His cheeks even flushed slightly - Taiga often blushed a little when his smile got that big. "Is it 'cause I'm your only friend ?"  
  
"As if !" Daiki said and rolled his eyes, relief spreading through him when Taiga finally laughed loudly for the first time that day. "And you're not my only friend, idiot." he added, shaking his head, "I have friends at school. And I keep telling you about Satsuki."  
  
"Oh, right." Taiga's eyebrows raised up, "You even said you wanted to introduce her to me."  
  
"Yeah. I'm sure she'll be there when I'll teach you how to play basketball." Daiki nodded, "She's always at the court with me."  
  
Taiga looked determined, "I'll ask my dad tonight _for sure_ and I'll tell you what he said next Friday."  
  
Daiki nodded quietly, his chest tightening - he really didn't like how Taiga only ever talked about his dad.

* * *

The next Friday came, and Taiga looked even worse this time - he seemed sad, angry and depressed. His shoulders were still hunched, and he looked like he hadn't slept in forever.

As soon as Daiki had arrived, Taiga had proceeded to tell him that he had talked to his dad about meeting him at the court, and seeing how frustrated the redhead looked, Daiki had immediately understood that his dad had refused.  
  
He sat next to him and listened as Taiga explained that his dad said he wouldn't have the time to drive him to the court because he had a lot of things to do, and Taiga was looking down and ripping out grass the whole time as he spoke.  
  
Daiki didn't understand why Taiga sounded so mad and depressed as he was telling him this. After all, it wasn't like they _had_ to meet at the court. Daiki could just ask his mom to drive him to Taiga's place, and they would have a fun together during fall, winter, spring, and even during summer again.  
  
But he finally understood why Taiga sounded so frustrated as he finished talking.  
  
"I'm moving to America in a week."  
  
Daiki felt like he had suddenly been submerged in cold, freezing water.  
  
He was silent for a long, long time, staring at Taiga all the while, and the redhead was still looking down at the ground, frowning, worrying his lower lip and ripping out the grass.  
  
America was... really far. Daiki couldn't remember whether the ocean that was separating Japan from America was the Pacific ocean or the Atlantic ocean, but he clearly remembered how huge it looked on the world globe that was in his classroom. Plus, they didn't even speak Japanese there, did they ?  
  
"Why America ?" he finally asked.  
  
Taiga threw a handful of grass in the air in front of him, "My dad's gonna work there and I have to go with him."  
  
"Oh..." it was Daiki's turn to look down, but he quickly glanced at him again, a hint of hope in his gaze, "Are you coming back ?"  
  
"I don't know," Taiga shrugged with a frown, "Probably not."  
  
Daiki looked down one more time, and he didn't even have the time to accept the harsh reality before Taiga continued.  
  
"My dad said he won't have the time to drive me here again either." he said, glancing at him before looking at the ground again, "So today is the last time you'll see me."  
  
At this point, Daiki felt like he was _drowning_ in freezing water.  
  
He fell silent for a really long time. He didn't know what to say. And he wasn't even sure he would be able to talk, because he felt a heavy lump in his throat.  
  
He was feeling really bad.  
  
His chest felt tighter and tighter as seconds passed, his stomach was twisting uncomfortably, and he just couldn't swallow down the lump in his throat, no matter how much he tried. It almost felt like he was going to cry, except his vision wasn't getting blurry, because no tears were building up in his eyes.  
  
Maybe he _looked_ _like_ he was going to cry, though, because Taiga glanced at him and suddenly stood up on his knees, stepped closer to him, wrapped his arms around him and pulled him in a crushing hug.  
  
And that wasn't making Daiki feel better at all.  
  
It actually made him feel even worse, and because of that hug, it felt like he was going to cry for real - his vision was getting blurry this time.  
  
He managed to blink the tears away before they could fall, and he let out a long, shaky breath to calm down.  
  
And he felt his chest tightening even more when he heard Taiga letting out a sigh that was even shakier than his own.  
  
He finally hugged him back and squeezed him just as tightly as Taiga was squeezing him.  
  
Daiki was used to Taiga's scent and to his warmth, because they had played wrestling before. However, this felt different - in a good way. Although Daiki still felt like he was going to cry, the hug in itself felt nice and a little comforting. And Daiki thought that maybe he should have hugged Taiga first, because he was obviously even more heartbroken and sad than Daiki was.  
  
They stayed like this for a while. Taiga's hand was rubbing Daiki's back up and down, and Daiki traced circles on the other boy's back silently. As seconds - or maybe even minutes - passed, he was slowly feeling a little better.  
  
He felt the boy's arms loosening up around him after around thirty more seconds, and Daiki did the same, but he didn't pull away since Taiga didn't. He wanted to let him decide when they would stop hugging - he felt like Taiga needed this hug even more than he did.  
  
Taiga's hand was still gliding up and down his spine, slowly and soothingly. Somehow, it felt like Taiga was trying to comfort himself just as much as he was comforting him. It reminded Daiki of when he used to pet his neighbor's dog as a stress reliever.  
  
Daiki felt Taiga's warm breath tickling the junction between his neck and shoulder for a while, until the redhead eventually pulled away, and Daiki's eyebrows raised up when he suddenly felt a pair of soft, slightly wet lips pressing against his cheek.  
  
He was a little thrown off guard, but he quickly recovered. He knew friends usually didn't kiss, but since Satsuki sometimes kissed him on the cheek after he would share his candies with her, Daiki didn't really mind being kissed by his friends. He just had never been kissed by a friend who was also a boy, so he was a little surprised. Especially since Taiga had never looked like the type who would kiss his friends.  
  
Taiga's hands slid away from him as he pulled away completely and sat on his heels, that small and permanent frustrated frown still on his face. And the feel of his lips lingered on Daiki's cheek for quite a while.  
  
After that, they spent the rest of the afternoon talking while looking at the view in front of them. Taiga told him about how angry he was because he didn't want to move to a country where no one spoke Japanese, and because he didn't want to leave Tokyo at all. He also told him that they were going to a city called Los Angeles - a city that Daiki knew about because he watched the NBA a lot.  
  
Daiki listened to him talk for a long time. He had glanced at his watch when it was half past seven, but he didn't interrupt him and kept listening to him. He didn't want to go as long as it wasn't time for Taiga to go home. He wanted to stay with him as long as possible, since it was the last time.  
  
It was past eight when Taiga told him he had to go. Daiki knew he was going to get yelled at and that he was also definitely going to be grounded because he was more than a hour late, but it was the last of his worries.  
  
They stood up and Taiga gave him a small smile as he told him goodbye, and his smile was so sad Daiki had decided to initiate a hug this time. They hugged for a ridiculously long time, Taiga was clinging to him like he was never going to let go while Daiki rubbed his back. It was when they heard a masculine voice calling Taiga's name and echoing in the air that they finally slowly pulled away.  
  
"That's my dad." Taiga said, "I better go now. I think he has an appointment somewhere."  
  
Daiki nodded, and Taiga walked away reluctantly, looking over his shoulder the whole time and waving his hand one last time before disappearing through the dense bushes.  
  
And it was the last time Daiki saw him crossing those shrubs.

**Author's Note:**

> If you guys saw any weird mistake/typo, just know it was really hard to type properly because i was crying blood the whole time and I couldn't see shit thru my tears. 
> 
> I wanted them to physically fight over the secret hideout, but since Aomine used to be all smiling and happy, and Kagami used to be pretty much like he is now minus the short temper and his foul mouth, I think they would have shrugged it off and become friends pretty easily instead. After all, kids bicker and then become bestfriends a second later.
> 
> ANYWAY.
> 
> Next chap will be Kagami's POV !!!!


End file.
